OGL 481 Pro-Seminar I:

PCA-Structural Frame Worksheet

Worksheet Objectives:
1. Describe the structural frame
2. Apply the structural frame to your personal case situation

Complete the following making sure to support your ideas and cite from the textbook and other
course materials per APA guidelines. After the peer review, you have a chance to update this and
format for your Electronic Portfolio due in Module 6.

1) Briefly restate your situation from Module 1 and your role.

I was a customer service representative for Sprint at an inbound call center. The
situation was that my supervisor would not allow my customer to return an unopened
phone as a one-time courtesy to a long-time customer. The phone was meant to be a
Christmas gift for his recently deceased daughter. My supervisor refused to take the call
and accept the unopened phone because the customer did not become irate and request to
speak directly to my supervisor. My supervisor would have done this for a customer
requesting to speak to them.

2) Describe how the structure of the organization influenced the situation.

The organization's structure was that a customer would need to become irate and
yell or use obscene language or directly request to speak to a supervisor to resolve any
escalation. As customer service representatives, we were limited in what we could do for
a customer at our level. We could take payments, suspend a line, email a bill, and adjust a
late charge up to $5 once on a bill. We didn't make outbound calls and just read the
policy to the customer if they attempted to resolve an issue. Our responsibilities were
limited, and our autonomy to resolve customers' complaints was even more limited.

Part of this lack of any real solutions may have been due to Sprint's contracting
the call center. I don't accept this excuse because when I worked with Nike, we were able
to go above and beyond for Nike customers. The organization's structure most certainly
influenced the situation as this customer would have been satisfied not having the added
expense of another phone payment and phone line if my supervisor had taken the call.
Not to say the customer would have been happy, but it certainly would have helped not to
have a reminder of the gift for his daughter he lost. Suppose the organization's structure
gave room for situations to be considered based on a customer service representative's

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 evaluation. In that case, they may have had more loyal customers and not have to join
with T-Mobile, which has a higher customer satisfaction rating.

3) Recommend how you would use structure for an alternative course of action
regarding your case.

I would structure my organization so that we respected and valued each customer.

I would lean to customers always proper perspective. I would trust the employees we
hired were trained correctly to evaluate the situation and provide the best solution
possible for the customer. I have since worked at many customer service-focused
companies that allow assistance to a customer in need. Currently, I work for a company
that will put an emergency request to expedite a request for a customer based on their
situation. I often don't agree with this as I view it as showing favoritism and almost unfair
to other customers who don't communicate their situation to us.

With my situation, I sometimes wish I would have lied and told my supervisor
that the customer asked for them. I was afraid to do this because our calls are recorded,
and I am terrible at lying. I know that if I told my supervisor the customer requested to
speak to her, she would have taken the call based on the organization's structure of the
organization. In reality, I couldn't use the structure for an alternative course of action
regarding this case because the company wouldn't allow it. The structure, I believe,
directly correlates to why the company has such low ratings and practically went out of
business.

4) Reflect on what you would do or not do differently given what you have learned
about this frame.

I would trust my team to be the "critical link between specialization and

expertise." (Bolman, p.107) Some of the most high-performing customer service
companies I have worked for do, and it works well for them. One major company is State
Farm. They spend a significant amount of time training their employees with skills to
become some of the best customer service representatives. The time they spend training
pays off as it gives the service representatives more autonomy on what they can do for
customers. They also know that they can reach out to their leaders to help with solutions
in certain circumstances in which they recognize a solution must be presented. This
knowledge to know customer satisfaction's importance to the company drives the
representatives to go above and beyond for their customers.

The freedom to make what decisions possible to create customer satisfaction

helps to save time and money and drive customer loyalty. State Farm's structure also
provides endless resources to customer service representatives and, in turn, customers.
They have a considerable knowledge base at their disposal, escalations representatives,

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 and course team supervisors to assist in helping find customer solutions. The structure
also includes measurable performance goals and team cohesion exercises. I would say
that Sprint lacked every one of the six distinguishing characteristics of a high-quality
team. I would attempt to create a structured environment that would best resemble the
high-quality teams I have worked for in the past, like State Farm, and stay away from the
rigid qualities I experienced working for Sprint.

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 Reference or References

Bolman, L. G., & Deal, T. E. (2008). Reframing organizations: Artistry, choice, and leadership (4th ed.).
Jossey-Bass.